The Four American Seasons depict, explore, and pay tribute to different regions of the United States of America and the musical styles associated with them. The first movement, Appalachian Spring explores elements of bluegrass and folk and pays tribute to two related works, Aaron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The second movement, Mississippi Summer is based on the blues tradition and it describes changes in weather that the composer remembers from living there for a couple of decades. In the beginning of the movement, one can hear depictions of scorching heat and high humidity that leads to a quickly approaching thunderstorm. The third movement, Autumn In New York evokes sounds of show music from Broadway and is written as a jazzy waltz. The last movement, Colorado Winter is a depiction of a winter mood and holiday atmosphere rather than of a particular musical style. The entire movement is performed using natural harmonics, the sounds of which create idyllic illusions of stars, snow, ice, and lights.
The work was commissioned by and dedicated to the Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music Guitar Ensemble with support from the Hayes Circle Fund. It was premiered at the Appalachian State University’s Hayes School of Music on February 1st, 2025.
